Fake Fur 'Originally titled Meow'
by bonbonpich
Summary: RikuxSora. Sora saved a cat from being beaten to death. Overnight, the cat turned into human and introduced himself as Riku. Little was known, but Riku seemed to remember something that Sora had forgotten.
1. Ch 1 I Remember You

I haven't got a good title as of yet, I might change it afterwards, any suggestions?

SpecialThanks to AshleyPorter for beta-reading

SpecialThanks toCarefreecat for thoroughly editing (revised on 04/10/08)

Big 'X' marked memories. I don't use italics because I think it's hard to read in a long run. Anyone think so?

**Chapter 1 I Remember You**

It was a cloudy evening when Sora strolled down the path to his home. Usually he would walk in the company of his twin brother, but that day, his brother had been drawn away for his project. Sora didn't mind though, he never minded much of anything; having always been a good-natured boy with an overly optimistic mind. Some called it a double edged-sword, but most enjoyed his personality.

To him, everything on Destiny Island was perfect. Although small in population, the folks that lived there were nice. The ocean just happened to be an added benefit which he enjoyed it to the immense. Sora never asked for anything more, he had no need to. Everyday was a good day for him.

Unless…there was something he believed was wrong, was happening…Well then that dampened his mood a little.

A muffled whine that didn't sound human caught in his ears, along with several mutterings. It made Sora turn sideways to see what the odd noise was. His blue eyes took in the sight of three small children huddling up in a circle. At first, he thought that it was only the kids playing, but a weird noise that he could make out as some sort of animal rang out from between the three kids again. It sounded in pain. Sora's eyes searched the space on the ground, between the boys. He barely made out a form of a small cat at their feet. A small creature, which was yowling in pain…

So the only thing that could _bother_him right then was an act of animal abuse from a group of children who lacked the sympathy and found beating up a small cat amusing.

"Hey!" he yelled in anger and rushed in.

Normally, if they were children younger than him, Sora would rather converse with them. Still, sometimes the act that goes against his self-righteous just couldn't grant him those 'sit-and-talk-and-understand method' all the time. Anyhow, his yell made the kids startled and turned tail before Sora could say anything.

He huffed, so much for his notion of '_nice__folks_.' Yet, he understood that they were young; they had no idea. It wasn't like Sora never hurt small animal before.

He knelt down to the puddle on the ground. With a closer inspection, he found the small cat that lay battered was silver in color. Not white, silver. Its eyes were closed and its uncomfortably thin stomach puffed up and down as it struggled to catch its breath. Its wounds could have been bad, but Sora wasn't sure, but by the way those kids had treated the small thing…It was enough to tell him that it didn't seem as fine as it looked on the surface.

"Grr, those kids. I'm gonna whack them good the next time I see them," he muttered. He reached to scoop the poor thing up. But as soon as his fingers made contact, it suddenly sprang to life and clawed him on the back of his hand, drawing a small line of blood. "Gah!" Sora let out a small yelp, yet he didn't let go of it. The cat's green eyes glared heatedly at him and it made a low growl in the back of its throat. Then it started to claw at the hands that trapped it several more times. Yet due to its weak condition, the cat failed to cause any great deal of damage or pain to Sora like it intended to.

Sora knew better than to get mad. The creature was no doubt acting out of fear of being hurt again, so he cooed, "Hey, its okay. I'm not going to hurt you." In all honesty, he didn't really expect it would work, at least not immediately, so he was surprised when the cat did slow and stopped attacking the skin on his hands. That only encouraged him to continue, "Its okay. It's okay."

When the little thing stopped struggling, Sora lifted it up to his chest, trusting that the small fight was over with. He looked down and the cat looked right back up at him. Sora found the cat's green eyes amazingly oceanic, its angry demeanor subsided almost completely and was now replaced with something akin to curiosity, and maybe…just maybe some trust?

"Heh," he trailed off, smiling down at the fuzzy creature, he was glad that the animal seemed to understand him despite how puzzled he was. He started walking as fast as he could towards the only veterinary clinic on Destiny Island, all the while ignoring the slight pain from the scratches across his hands and arms.

One thing he hadn't realized, due to the urgent of situation, was that the small silver chain necklace that had long ago fallen off of the cat's throat while being attacked, was laying abandoned on the ground. Forgotten.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Feh…" Sora huffed as he stared at the _closed_sign on the front door of the veterinary clinic in town. He sighed as his head dropped in frustration. "Of all the day to be closed…"

Several nuzzle against his chest made him glance down at the cat in his arms. It gave a tired purr.

Deciding that he had no choice, he headed home.

Sora placed the cat on top of a bundle of clothes once he reached his room. The cat was asleep, quite peacefully he might add. He stared at it for a while and its green eyes slid open, as if it could sense the compassionate boy watching him. It kept its eyes on Sora for such a long time that Sora had to wonder how the cat managed to maintain such eye contact. Every other cat looked away a certain amount of time. This one was different.

He laughed mentally at such thought and began petting it. "Hang in there, okay? I'll take you to the veterinarian first thing tomorrow morning." Lucky for him that it was Saturday tomorrow (he'd given his brother his word that they would go to Twilight Town together to meet up with some friends, but maybe he could call in sick?).

"Hey," he chuckled lightly when the cat took his contact to its liking. He soon winced when the kitten started running its tongue across his hands. It was only then that Sora realized the small wounds on his hands…and arms were still stinging and bleeding lightly.

Judging from the long line of scratches, but small in size, Sora decided that they could wait to be attended to. So he got up and left the room, only to come back with a small bowl of warm water, medicine, and some food.

Sora did everything he could with the wounds while the kitten lapped up some of the warm water. Oddly enough it never touched the food. All the while, Sora couldn't help the anxiousness that had begun to well up inside him. Sure, the cat looked almost fine but its ragged breathing failed to comfort him. He only kept watch till the cat curled up in itself, and fell asleep again. After a short time followed, sleepiness also took hold of Sora. That was when the scattered dreams of his far off memories took place.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

X

"Wait! You're leaving?" The little boy with brown hair exclaimed, whipping his head to his friend who leaned idly against the bent Paopu Tree beside him.

Another boy, a silver-haired one, nodded. His oceanic green eyes avoided the other. "I told you, we only moved here temporarily. My parents' work here is done, so we have to go."

The silver-haired boy's parents were the researchers, traveling from one place to another for the purpose of gathering information about different worlds. It gave their son a chance to explore the new horizons, and friends.

Sure, both boys knew they wouldn't be together forever. Yet the long number of 4 years that they had spent together glued them together as best friends despite their bipolar personalities. They went to the same school, played on the same remote island, fought over with each other and slept over at each other's places. They were always together. Along the way, both had forgotten that the departure would eventually come.

The silver-haired boy, being one year older than the brunet, had talked of his adventures across the universe. He'd wanted his friend to go with him… Somehow, he knew things just weren't that easy. His friend had a life here on this island, a home…He couldn't ask the brunet to give all that up.

The brunet was fidgeting. The actions made the older of the two to reach out and ruffle the younger's brown hair, making it stick up more than usual. "I'll come back to visit…sometimes."

"When?"

"Don't know. It depends on my parents."

"Feh."

"Look. You'll be fine. You've got Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka…and the others."

"But you're my _best__friend_," the brunet said with all the genuineness in his demeanor.

It brought a smile to another boy's face, a real smile, not the usual smirk that he often wore.

"Same here. Still…it can't be helped."

There was a whine of protest emitting from the brunet's throat.

The silver-haired boy sighed and directed a finger to the horizon from the Paopu Tree that they'd been leaning on, in their remote island which was their personal playground.

The brunet followed the direction with a 'huh?'

"Look there, you see the sky?" Upon receiving a confused nod from the brunet, the silver-haired boy continued, "A friend of mine back there told me that there's only one sky. No matter where we are, we're under the same sky-"

"Cheesy," the brunet cut in with a comment.

Rolling his eyes, the silver-haired boy growled. "And that coming from the one that's almost in tears given the news that I have to go?"

"I'm not crying!" The brunet retorted.

"Yeah…yeah. Sure you're not." The older boy sighed again. Being friend with the brunet year after year had taught him something. His friend, he'd learned, was not a whiner. In fact the silver-haired boy could count on his fingers the times his friend had whined. Infrequently as it was when it did come it was difficult to deal with.

"…Even if…we're under the same sky just as you said, we still won't see each other, you'll forget me."

"There, you're sulking instead"

"Am not!"

There was, however, one way that the silver-haired boy discovered it works on the stubborn brunet. With one regarding eyes on his whining friend in denial, the silver-haired boy beckoned another boy with his open arms. "Come here."

The brunet arched his eyebrow but complied. When he was within another's arm reach, he was pulled and encircled in another's hold.

They were both the same size, so the older boy's chin rested on the brunet's shoulder as he whispered. "We've never done this often, right? Figures it should be the time."

Truth be told, they'd never had really hugged, unless they counted a lot of snuggling up against each other during sleepovers as hugs.

The younger one nodded and held the other back.

"No matter where I go, I'll remember you, Sora. Even though I've forgotten about you or you've forgotten about me, you'll still always be in my memory." He cooed into Sora's ears.

"Feh. You're not making any sense." The said Sora's voice dropped.

"Sora?"

Sora didn't say anything because he'd already started crying.

X

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora was unaware of the waking world when night rolled around. So the stars that littered the inky sky and the moon that was situated above the horizon that stared right through his window were the only witness to all that would soon happen.

From the heap of clothes that was situated beside the sleeping boy's bed, the small form of a cat slowly rose up. Its green eyes took in the dim surroundings before it jumped up on the bed. The kitten landed right across the boy's face. It nudged Sora gently on the face, eliciting a tired moan from the half-asleep brunet. Shifting around the small area, the cat was tempted to do _something_.

It wasn't long that its lips touched the slumbering boy's.

Whether it was intentionally or coincidentally, no one could tell.

There was only one articulate sentence in the cat's mind

'_I remember you.' _

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

When the sun began to shine through his window, Sora was still dreaming of a cat, a certain one with silvery fur and oceanic green eyes. So as his eye lids opened half way, he was sure he was still dreaming because he was looking right up into those same green eyes, and that silver…Then his senses kicked in, and everything around him began to sink in Shortly after that he was fully awake, he just realized that the eyes he'd been staring at didn't belong to a cat.

…but of a human.

Sora's blue eyes shot wide opened and finally took in the form of the other boy hovering above him. His bare, pale chest that was revealed to Sora indicated that he didn't have anything on except the blanket that draped dangerously around his waist and shoulders. Sora blinked once and twice while the boy right above him purred a soft _meow_.

There was a moment of utter silence before the house broke into a dreadfully loud _"__GAAHHHHHHHHHH!__"_

The brunet wasn't aware of how he was reacting. For one, he knew his back couldn't go any farther since he was already up against the headboard of his bed. And the other boy that seemed only briefly startled with his yell was now crawling up to him…That sure was not helping.

'_Why the heck is there another boy in my room?'_

While he was completely caught off guard his brain began to register something comprehensible when the silver-haired boy let out another soft purr. It made Sora blinked once and twice as he gaped at him.

_Oceanic green eyes, silver-hair…_

Then it was dawned to him, and he questioned with uncertainty, "You…you're that…cat?" With that said, the silver-haired boy smiled…somehow Sora felt like it was more like a smirk. His ears suddenly caught the stomping sound outside his room, which came closer and closer.

That would be his twin brother, his overprotective twin brother who chided him all the time if something he did would go wrong or get out of hands. Having another unknown and partially naked boy in his room was wrong. Sora sure didn't know what to formulate for his explanation. Out of instinct, he jumped off the bed, throwing his blanket over the silver-haired boy. Just to be sure that he could cover it all up, he reached for all the bundle of clothes on the ground and dove them all at the boy. He demanded with an index finger leveling with his lips, and hushed in low voice. "Stay down, stay still, and don't make any sound."

Then Sora made a quick way to the door and slipped out of it just in time to an approaching boy from entering his room. He practically bumped into his brother, and each fell back with matching groans.

Sora, who'd been able to close the door behind him just in time, called out, "Roxas!"

The other boy with swirls of short blond hair, and blue eyes like Sora's own, clutched at his face where it was struck. He looked up questioningly and snapped, "Watch it, Sora! And what was with the yell!"

"Sorry!" The brunet quickly apologized as he pulled himself up; offering his hand to his brother as well while working to devised some excuse, "It was a…mouse! It was right in front of my face when I woke up so I was caught of guard! But I already flailed it off the window."

A smirk pulled at Roxas's lips as he took his brother's hand and leaped up. "Was that it? You were screaming like someone was about to rape you in the room."

Sora deadpanned, his brother wasn't someone who would make that kind of joke, and the awkwardness of it all was to say such things at such moment, in such situation that was luckily known to him alone. He recovered quickly and whined, "Roxas! You spent too much time with that Axel guy, look what's got into you now!"

"Ha ha, it was just a joke." Roxas laughed.

Sora could only guess that his older brother was given that comment, so he took it out on Sora instead. After all, Roxas wasn't a patient person when it came to verbal abuse, especially from his best friend, Axel. Since Roxas barely won a verbal competition with Axel, Sora sometimes ended up the victim of his older twin's retaliation.

Then the blond's expression shifted into a concerned one. "You're going to be okay?"

The brunet head bobbed down. "Sure. It was just a mouse!" Sora lied, knowing all too well that it wasn't just a mouse but a really, really big cat-turned-human thing.

"No, I meant that," the blond said, addressing the words to Sora's hands and arms.

The younger of the two looked down and recognized the poorly wrapped bandages upon his wounds. Then Sora realized that the day before, he'd fell asleep without tending the scratches properly. His elder brother must have nursed the wounds when he'd come back late at night. _'__That__only__means__…'_

"How many times do I have to tell you to be careful when helping stray animals?" Roxas sighed. "If it hurts you or tries to hurt you, you should just leave it alone."

Sora's doubt was answered when his brother brought that up. So his brother was in his room, checking him and saw the cat. The fact that his brother was still cool about the whole situation must have meant that the cat hadn't turned human when Roxas was there. Then thinking fast, Sora came up with the excuse. "He was just scared at first! But he's a good boy! Actually, he was the one flailing that mouse that disturbed me in the morning out of the window."

Quirking an eyebrow, Roxas declared. "Oh? This time you knew about its gender? What a surprise."

Truth be told, Sora never knew how to distinguish the animals in the area of gender. It wasn't the first time that he took in a stray, battered, lost animals under his wings. Given that he wasn't really an animal lover, he didn't keep them for long. He let them go as soon as they recovered. Back to Roxas's issue, Sora had only known that it was male because its human form was obviously male.

"Okay, that's it." Using a finishing tone, Sora reminded as he urged Roxas to turn around to head back to his room. "You gotta go see your friends at Twilight Town today, right? You'll be late if you don't start off. I think the cat is fine now, so you don't have to worry. I'll throw him out before you come back."

Being reminded of his schedule, Roxas complied as his feet had already started to take him to his room with the help of his brother's shoving. He angled his head back slightly. "You do that-wait, aren't you coming too?"

The brunet shook his head. "I'm kinda tired. Sorry, can I call today off?" He saw his brother open his mouth to say something, but he cut in.

"But I'll be fine. You should go, say hi to Hayner and the others for me, okay?"

Roxas reached to feel Sora's forehead with the back of his hand but it was cautiously removed away by Sora.

"I'm not a kid, Rox! It's not a fever and I said I'll be fine." Sora huffed.

"Sure. Remind me of the last time you said that and fell flat right in front of me." Roxas returned with a sneer.

"Gah! That was a long time ago, and I'd had a fever then! Now off you go! Shoo!" The brunet urged once more.

"Okaaay, if you insist. I see that you have no fever anyways." Only half-convinced, Roxas slipped into his own room (which was across Sora's own) and was about to close the door when Sora beamed. "Thanks for this." The brunet said as he raised both of his bandaged arms into his brother's line of vision and added, "Although I myself could do better than this."

"But you didn't do it, so I did it in order to not let you get a frigging infection." The elder one said flatly with a small smirk only to be responded with by another huff from his brother and a door closing, specifying that it was the end of their conversation.

Pouting only to himself, Sora strolled back to his room. His bandages started to loosen. Sora use to often wonder how terrible Roxas was in treating people's sickness and wounds despite how much he'd put his effort into looking after Sora. Being twin brothers with parents who were always at work, made them grow attached to each other. His older twin, being only seconds away when they were born, always took the responsibility for the two of them.

Sometimes Sora found that Roxas was overprotective. When the issue was brought up, Roxas always won, reasoning that Sora was too stupid and needed someone to watch his back. Sora had given up winning the argument over such issue and letting his brother have his way most of the time.

That, he shoved it aside.

It was time to deal with a cat-turned-human.

Swallowing, Sora eyed the doorknob cautiously before swinging it open and slipping in.

All the bundle of clothes failed to do the job in covering the whole body of a human up, so the arms and legs were stuck out from them. Sora stepped closer to take in the sight of the boy that was sprawled on his bed. He wondered what he should do with the situation.

It wasn't long before the face under the blanket dived up and looked at him. The intense oceanic green eyes bored into him and Sora had to take one step back absentmindedly. Then the silver-haired boy pushed up, his demeanor feline-like, Sora noticed. He let his feet fall to the ground.

Sora noted that the boy wanted to get up. As soon as he did, he fell. Sora would have found it funny if the blanket that covered him up didn't slide dangerously away from his slim hips. He ducked his face into his hands and yelled in frantic, "Gah! Don't move! Stay still!"

Sit still, the silver-haired boy did.

After the torture situation of helping the boy put his father's shirt and trouser on, Sora huddled tiredly on the floor while the silver-haired boy sat idly, gazing at Sora with the eyes that he found almost innocuous… if they weren't so intense they might have been.

"What really happened…a cat turned into a human…this is unbelievable. Am I dreaming or what?" Sora pinched his own cheek and '_oww-ed'_ then he dug his hands into his head. The series of his action drew a chuckle from the other boy. Sora rolled his eyes at him, but the other only kept smiling.

He tried to think of a more logical reason…something like: the cat disappeared, and someone threw this boy into his room at night. However, one glance at the boy, and anyone could tell that the oceanic green eyes and the silver-hair must have unmistakably belonged to the cat he'd taken in the day before. More importantly, he had a feeling deep in his gut that this boy, and that cat were the same being.

Plus, Sora had just spotted the wound that had been on the cat's left, front leg was now situated on the silver-haired boy's left arm.

"Gah! No use wracking my brain out anyway." He held one hand out, palm up. "Let me take a look at your wound." He waited impatiently until the other mirrored his movement and Sora grabbed a wrist, pulling it closer to inspect the wound. "Wow, it's healing fast. You're gonna be fine. Maybe I don't have to take you to a veterinarian. Geh, even if I have to, veterinarian won't do."

At least Sora was thankful that the silver-haired boy appeared _meek_ enough to stay under his command. Maybe things wouldn't be as hard as he'd feared.

Or not?

"Whoa!" Sora was caught off guard when the hand in his, left, and came back to yank at him instead. Forcefully, he fell into the other boy's lap. When he looked up, it was only then that he _must_realized the other boy was by far taller than him, his figure well-built than his much smaller frame. "What the-" Sora demanded, but paused when the silver-haired boy took one of Sora's hands to his eyes level.

It looked like he was examining it then the green eyes turned back to Sora. To Sora's disclosure, the earlier playful eyes took on a restless expression that Sora could make out as….guilt? Sora arched his eyebrows and glanced at his hands and arms where scratches and cuts were still visible through the messy bandages. Only then did he understand another boy's message. "Umm…I'm fine…Don't worry?" It came out half a question since Sora wasn't sure if the other understood at all.

Sora wasn't prepared for the next action of the cat, which was…licking.

A huge neon sigh that spelled _NO_ in front of Sora's mind could have shattered at any minute due to the overheat. His face burned. A cat licking away the wounds on his hand? Sure he could take it with 10 or more cats, but a boy about his age doing the same thing? It was a complete different story.

Kicking himself out of the friggin _blue_, he vocalized, "No!" He yanked his hand back as well as scrambled himself up and away. Given that, he hadn't kept his room tidy for…like forever…he stumbled back amongst the pile of his stuffs that littered on the floor. Looking about, Sora swore he could see a flash in those oceanic depths before the other boy crawled over to Sora's prone form. To Sora's horror, the silver-haired boy pressed his hands over his shoulders and leaned in. Out of instinct, Sora shut his eyes tight; praying whatever the other was about to do wouldn't hurt him.

Then he peeked one eye open and saw the silver-haired boy smile playfully right at him. With the taller boy on top, Sora took a moment to study those eyes. Somehow, it was dawn to him.

All the kittens that he'd brought to his room mostly fell into their playful manners. Given that his room was littered with stuffs, cats loved the object that moved around. Kittens often jumped on him when he made a sudden movement.

This one in front of him was no different. He only wanted to play.

"Gah!" Sora let out, feeling stupid for his earlier fretful behavior. He let out a sigh while pressing one hand over his head. Still, their position was awkward, so he swiftly pushed the other off. Luckily, the taller one complied.

"Sit!" Sora ordered, pointing a finger to certain spot in front of him. Good enough, the cat-boy did sit. Sora settled himself in front of the taller boy and folded his arms over his chest, acting dominant all of the sudden. When he noticed the other's gaze fell onto his arms, he shoved them behind his back, in apprehension that the other would start doing _it_again. When his eyes shifted back to the silver-haired boy, he blinked. _'__Is__that__a__smirk__I__see?__' _He asked himself, but after another good look, the cat-boy only smiled. _'__Must__have__been__my__imagination,__'_ Sora concluded as he looked at the other up and down. "So…do you know anything about yourself? Like your name, your owner? Why are you turned into human?"

There was no reply and from the look on the silver-haired boy's face, it seemed like he didn't know either, or wasn't exactly sure.

The brunet's head tilted to the side. Hundred of possibilities ran through his mind.

"If you don't know yourself, then what should I do with you?" Sora questioned more to himself than the other.

"Sora! I'm leaving now!"

There came Roxas's calling outside the door. Sora's head followed the direction and called back, "Okay! See you later!"

"And don't forget to throw the friggin cat out once he'd healed!" The line came in faded, which led Sora to believe Roxas must have already went down the stairs.

"Okay!" Sora followed up, once he'd turned back, he saw no other face than the cat-boy's own. That again, came too close for his own personal space comfort. The pale hand grabbed the hem of Sora's shirt. The expression on his face made Sora's heart do a flip-flop. Sora tried to back away with a sheepish smile. "You…understood what my brother just said?"

There was no answer but Sora needed none. Every line on the silver-haired boy's face was telling him that he was following.

"Umm, look…I'm not gonna kick you out if you're not…ready. So maybe…you can back off now." Sora drawled uneasily.

Back off, the taller boy did.

Sora looked at another boy again and fell into speculation. Maybe this, maybe that. He sighed at the never-ending thought and shook his head to dismiss the thought. Addressing back to the other boy, he idly asked, "You hungry?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora felt it coming. Since the cat-boy didn't even know what a spoon was and what was it for, let alone how it was used, Sora had ended up feeding him. After the little that the cat-boy ate, he seemed to be more interested in sleeping, which was what exactly he was doing right now. The cat was fast, before Sora could realize, the other boy's head was already on his lap, curling up against Sora. While Sora was uncomfortable with the position and the blood that kept rushing to his head round after round, he couldn't find the heart to break the position. Sora always felt stuck when he was caught with a cat sleeping on his lap.

"Well, better asleep than causing trouble around, I guess." He observed the silver strands that fell onto the boy's face, which seemed to grow ethereally. Reaching to touch it, he found it was softer than he imagined. So Sora started running his hands through those silky locks. The act drew a soft mewl from the boy.

Halting immediately, Sora rolled his eyes, reflecting on what he was doing. Had he been somewhere else, other than the private of his own room, with the two of them alone; he would have found this situation very embarrassing.

"You seem to understand when I talked most of the time. Maybe you were human before that?" Sora said absentmindedly as he became almost hypothesized. "Or is there something that you really need to do so you can turn into a human? Like by wishing upon a star, like in those fairy tales? Geh, maybe that's not the point, how can you do something you must do when all you do is sleep." Sora began to yawn; sleepiness often crawled up on him if he didn't spend his free time outside under the sunny holiday. "Maybe this is all a dream. Maybe when I wake up, you'll be a cat again?"

Sora drifted off to sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

How's it? There's a story behind as to why the cat-boy turned into human, or it could be the other way around. And just to let you know though…Riku isn't a passive. Not sure if I made him that way here, but it's only temporary. You'll see ^W^~

12


	2. Ch 2 You Don't Remember Me

Thanks for all the reviews! Love ya!

I've changed the title to **Fake Fur**, 'Meow' just too simple.

_beta-read by AshleyPorter_ & thoroughly revised with the help of Carefreecat on 07/10/08

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 2 You Don't Remember Me**

It was a miracle that Roxas hadn't found out about what (or to be exact, who) Sora had been hiding from him. When the other twin came back in the evening, he'd only asked Sora if he had already dumped the cat. Sora nodded and shifted the issue to Roxas's day and Roxas never questioned further.

Sora had believed that the whole ordeal would be a dream; that when he woke up, the silver-haired boy would turn back to what he was supposed to be.

Right?

Wrong.

_2nd Day_

Waking up in the morning by a hit or a shove from his brother was like a routine for the twin, but a nudge to his side was not. Sora's waking mind registered sensation of warmth beside him. When his eyes cracked open, they took the sight of another boy curling up against him, looking so content in his sleep. That was anything but ordinary for Sora's Sunday morning.

Being able to gain his right mind, he clamped his mouth shut as soon as he opened it. Swallowing his yell, he scrambled himself out the bed. He fell to the ground, his feet sticking up. Well, didn't history just loved to repeat itself? At least he'd managed not to bawl and wake his brother up this time.

The loud thud and the sudden movement caused another occupant on the bed to stir and shifted to sit up. After a few stretches, he eyed up at Sora who was now standing tall above him, looking very angry.

"Hadn't I told you to sleep on the floor!" the brunet raised his voice, one hand pointed accusingly at the boy on the bed, and another motioned to the floor where a makeshift bed created by several crumples of sheets and clothes were.

The green-eyed boy just smiled.

Okay, this one was no different from all those little kittens that had to climb into his bed at night. Sora recalled every last one of them that he ordered to stay where they were, and none of them obeyed him. He learned from his friend, Selphie, later, that cats often cuddle for human body heat. Sora rolled his eyes. _'Right, body heat, but since he's human now, doesn't he have his own? And how did he get onto the other side of the bed anyway?'_ Sora pressed one hand against his temple. Out of peculiar things, one most important matter rushed to his mind. "You _haven't_ changed back into a cat!"

The boy who'd been inquired tilted his head to the side.

"A…" Sora formed a word but he was lost for what to say. A series of seconds passed by before he managed something. "What am I gonna do with you?" When Sora swept his eyes over the boy, he spotted a flash of something that was akin to apprehension. He suddenly felt guilty.

Deciding to just go for his morning routines first, and worry later, Sora grabbed some clothes and barged outside the room (after ordering the cat-boy not to wander off).

When Sora came back to his room, with the new set of his father's clothes (one privilege to having a parents busily working for community was that they didn't have time to spot a small changes or missing stuffs in the house), he found the cat-boy running his tongue against his own skin. The movement that one curled hand circled to his silver head and back to the tongue made Sora realized that the cat-boy was cleaning himself.

He plopped himself down in front of the _cleaning_ boy and shook his head. "No, no, no. You don't do that. You're a human now, you gotta take a bath." When the other raised his brow, Sora beckoned him. "Come here."

Roxas had always tended to rise very randomly, due to his occasional stay at Twilight Town where the environment hadn't provided enough to distinguish between days and nights. He could wake at any moment, Sora warned himself to take a very cautious step if he were to take Riku to the bathroom.

He pushed the taller boy in, along with some prepared clothes and a towel, then he stood by the closed bathroom door. After a few minutes of waiting and not hearing a sound of water running, he knocked. "Umm, hey…make it quick. I can't let Roxas find out about you." Then Sora heard a purr, and noticed the doorknob fumbling. He could picture another boy scraped over the doorknob on the other side, trying to open it. Sora pushed the door ajar by inches and peeked a little inside. He jerked back when his vision took in a full view of a green-eyed boy popping up behind it.

Thankfully, Riku was still fully clothed. Sora cast one last glance towards Roxas's bedroom door and slipped himself into the bathroom. Once he was in, he exclaimed, "Take a both already and make it quick!"

The silver-haired boy tilted his head to the side and looked lost.

It took Sora a while to understand the gesture. "Oh, no…no…no." he gawked at the taller in disbelief. "Don't tell me you don't know how to bathe." A further tilting of head confirmed Sora's fear. "Oh…man." He whirled around and let his head thud softly against the wall, his back facing Riku.

Another good minute rolled by as they both stood in silence. Then Sora drew a deep breath and exhaled, addressing back to the other. "Look, it's easy. I'll leave the water running. You just take…uh…take off your clothes…Gaah! Not now, you moron! Wait till I leave!…Umm, where were we, uh…and go in the bathtub, run yourself under the water. Then you get out and dry off with that towel." Sora explained thoroughly as he demonstrated every process, by stepping in and out of the bathtub, pointing to every object that was needed in the process. "And put these new clothes on. Then you come out, okay?"

Fortunately, Sora discovered that the boy was a quick learner; at least he'd learned how to take his clothes off and put them on by himself (Sora's major concern). Then Sora went passed the first level, he didn't know how many more he should be expecting.

"A-choo!"

Back in the safety of his own room, Sora rolled his eyes at the sneeze that emitted from the cat-boy whose hair was still dripping wet. Sora already knew what should be done before the cat-boy get himself sick. He grabbed the towel and ran it through the wet silver-hair. The taller boy seemed to take Sora's contact to his liking. There was a soft purr that started to sound like a hum coming from him while letting the brunet toweling his hair dry.

"Can't you do anything on your own, _cat-boy_?"

Sora was puzzled when there was a whine from the said cat-boy. The head in his toweling hands gave a sudden jerk side to side, causing Sora to retreat the towel. At fist, he thought the cat-boy was shaking himself dry, but he tilted his head back at Sora and made a sound in his throat again as if to protest.

Sora's eyebrow furrowed. What could he be protesting about? Was he angry due to the accusation of being incompetent of anything? Well, wasn't that the truth? Feeling that it couldn't be the answer, he plopped himself back down (from supporting himself on his knees earlier in order to reach the taller boy's head) and watched the other who started to look around the room in search of something. His oceanic green eyes swept over Sora's open backpack, which contained several books inside. He fished one of it out.

The book fell open in front of confused Sora, and the silver-haired boy settled himself next to the smaller boy. With his hands that still seemed to slightly curl feline-like, began to point a letter one by one on the page. Sora, however, watched with high interest. When the cat-boy was done, his eyes shifted to Sora expectantly, as if he'd been trying to convey something.

Sora offered a sheepish smile. "Umm, what's with R-I-K-U?"

The silver-haired boy stared and addressed his hands to himself.

Then it was dawn to Sora. "Ah! You're Riku!" The excitement in Sora's voice made Riku smile. For the first time they've met, Riku looked very please. He bobbed his head up and down when Sora repeated the name.

"So you've been whining about having been called a cat-boy, right? Okay, I'll quit that," Sora said amid light chuckles. Between the merriment, he caught a glimpse of something inside Riku's eyes. Disappointment? Sora frowned, but when he tried to observe closer, Riku's face already slipped into one void of emotion.

Again, Sora was left wondering. What could cause Riku's long face in that brief moment? He searched for the answer, but found none as he scratched the back of his head and looked out the window where it led the view of the far off ocean. An idea crossed his mind.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

After Roxas had expressed that he was too tired and preferred staying at home and cocoon in the ocean of his blankets all day, Sora fetched the chance of going out. He always went to the remote island if time offered. Today his friends, Wakka and Tidus were wrapped up in Biltzball, Selphie wouldn't go alone there, and that granted him a chance to go alone with Riku. And gone out, they did.

Strolling down the lane of the town, Riku somehow still seemed to be in a moderate uptight mood. Sora only hoped getting the taller boy to the island could cheer him up. Along the way, Sora's neighbors came around, greeting and exchanging words with him. To Sora's greater puzzlement, Riku's mood seemed to descend from bad to worst. Sora marveled if it was the cat's normal behavior that wanted its master's attention all to itself. _'Geh, but I'm not his master, nor that I could ignore my neighbors.'_

This was his life, and it didn't mean that he had to change it just because one cat-turned-human boy wasn't satisfied with him. He kept his coolness but maintained some conversation with Riku (or more like he was the only one talking) to eradicate the tension in the air, until he reached the dock. He tilted his head back. "We gonna go to that island by-"

Sora's jaw dropped as he saw no presence of Riku and realized he'd been talking to the empty air for quite a while. Casting his eyes left and right, he spotted nothing silver. He pulled himself off of the shore and ran passed few blocks, scanning the area all the while.

He berated himself. Maybe he hadn't really paid enough attention to the cat? Sora thought Riku seemed to understand him and would follow accordingly to what he was told. Wasn't that what cats and dogs were supposed to do if they want the attention? He could have been wrong. He'd totally forget that Riku was lost and battered inside; this kind of being normally required special caution. Sora had learned from his life that people could be dying inside even if they looked tough on the outer shell.

He reached the corner of the 3rd block he'd passed and spotted the silver in the shadowy alley. To his great relief, Riku was there, leaning against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest, and looking wistful. His dimmed green eyes were partially closed and he was involved in staring at the pattern of the nondescript wall.

"Riku!"

The silver-haired boy jerked his head to the direction of the voice, his earlier occupied feature slipped into a surprised one. The look on Riku's face transformed Sora's pent up anxiousness into anger. "Just what's with that look of yours! You left without a word…gah! Not that you could say anything but the least you could do was to notice me! And what the heck are you doing here anyway! Gah! Don't give me that look like you know nothing! I was _worried_!"

Riku turned startled. Shortly after, he broke into a smirk, which made Sora stopped and huffed.

That kind of smirk even provoked Sora further, but before Sora could say anything Riku had closed the distance between them and reached to ruffle Sora's hair. The act drew a growl from the smaller boy. Sora shot his head up, swatting Riku's hand away. When he intended to yell, the look on Riku's face stopped him first.

The taller one bowed his head to Sora's level and looked beyond apologetic. Sora couldn't read Riku's face and kept wondering if Riku was happy? Sad? Or both?

Deciding that the enigma wouldn't get him anywhere, since Riku couldn't communicate his reason with him, he merely brushed the issue aside. Tucking the hem of his shirt towards Riku, he explained in stern tone, "Hold this, and make sure you don't let go of it. Stay close to me, okay? Someone who doesn't know anything like you are likely to get into trouble."

Riku opened his mouth. For a moment there, Sora thought Riku was going to say something. No words came out, not even a purr; the only sound that came out from his throat was only something akin to frustration.

Sora sighed. "Anyway, hold this." He tucked out the hem of his shirt again.

Riku fixed his eyes on the Sora's shirt and reached out, but instead of holding the article of clothes, Riku opted to go for Sora's hand. Before Sora say anything, Riku already pulled him off the alley and headed towards a general direction of the shore. Sora, meanwhile, could only trail behind and wondering what exactly did he miss. The table was turned and things were kinda irrational to him.

He tried not to mind though, since Riku's foul mood seemed gone. The question of 'why' could be answer afterward if ever time was due. Sora himself hadn't always been a person of rationalization, this couldn't bother him long. So he let Riku hold his hand as they headed towards the beach. Given that the beach was visibly clear from afar, Sora didn't think about the oddity of how Riku knew the way.

Another issue struck him instead, he'd never held anyone's hand before, namely boys, let alone anyone held his (well, except Roxas, but that was only when Sora went out of Roxas's ways and the older one demanded him to get back on track or whatnot).

Still, Sora couldn't find it in him to need his hand back.

When they reached the shore, Sora led Riku towards his small boat and they set out to the island.

Sora's high hope was met, for Riku seemed to like the island. After some small introduction to the island, Sora let the taller one wondered about while he settled himself down. It wasn't long that he was left to his peace when something poked him softly on the head. When he looked up, the tip of the wooden sword came into view. Riku was holding one, and extended another one to Sora.

Usually, Sora would know the gesture well, if it was coming from Tidus. He would take up the challenge immediately. This one, coming from Riku (a cat-turned-human)? Sora wasn't sure if Riku knew what he was doing.

"You…" Sora drawled with uncertainty. "-want to spar or what?" Upon Riku's nod, Sora let out a series of chuckle which were returned with Riku's frown. Sensing the changes in another's mood, Sora wished not to upset Riku and decided that he might as well give it a try. He took the sword. "Okay."

They stepped onto the sand and sparred.

The outcome was unexpected to Sora. Neither won nor lost. They had exchanged hits for a while; Sora discovered that Riku sure was good. The only thing that kept him from being real good was his somewhat clumsy movement, which Sora wondered if it was for the reason of Riku's unacquaintedness to human body. However, not likely wishing to admit that Riku could win him should he was familiar in his human limbs; Sora exited the train of thoughts.

Littering on the sandy beach, Sora puffed his breath in and out while Riku sat beside the smaller boy. Sora studied Riku who was doing nothing except whirling the wooden sword in his hands with different movements. It made Sora's speculation seemed plausible. If Riku was human before, he could be very well making the observation of movements with human limbs now.

Deep in thought Sora was. So he turned startle when the other caught him staring and smirked down at him. Shifting his eyes elsewhere, Sora clasped his hands behind his head to cushion it. "You know, except Tidus, I've never really sparred with anyone else," he started, in attempt to strike up some conversation.

To top his puzzlement, Riku looked somewhat disappointed again. Sora had no clue. Was it because he was talking about someone else again? _'Gah, damn the cat for wanting all the attention to himself…wait…and talking about attention—what the!' _his mind yelled.

Riku was now bending over him, his hands supporting his weight, with one beside Sora's waist, and another to the brunet's head.

'_Gah! What kind of attention does he want exactly!'_ Before Sora asked anything, Riku had opened his mouth. Sora realized the other was, _again_, trying to say a word.

It was a while that Sora watched Riku struggle with himself to vocalize. After a few second, the oceanic green eyes slid close, and Riku sighed in dejection. He drew back and pulled Sora to his feet. Sora's surprise yelp was ignored as Riku dragged him along and advanced up the higher level of the island.

"Ri…Riku…what?" Sora asked between trudging after the taller one.

They stopped at the narrow passage between the waterfall and the tree house. Riku motioned to the thicket that covered the small entrance to what seemed to be a cave. The taller boy dipped his head towards it, but Sora didn't understand.

"The cave? Umm, I think I used to play in there when I was young." With that said, Riku nodded and bobbed his head towards Sora as if he'd want the other to continue. Sora didn't know what to continue, he gave off the expression of complete lost.

Riku exhaled and turned sideways. Sora studied the taller boy, witnessing how frustrated and withdrawn Riku's expression had taken. Sora couldn't help but felt bad for him when Riku started to walk off, back to the shore. If Riku considered that he could speak a word but was unable to, it must have been an utter frustration since Sora himself didn't catch the gesture that Riku made. He didn't understand what Riku was trying to tell him.

Sora tried to remain optimistic, the least, they were able to communicate. Riku understood what he was saying, right? He sprinted after the taller boy. "Riku! Look, I don't understand what you said but I'm trying, all right? Don't get mad at me with that!"

Tilting his head back, Riku looked back at Sora, his face wore more of sadness than mad. It made Sora stared back in more confusion. Clueless, Sora scratched the back of his head and looked away from the intense stare. Then he trailed off, "I wish you could talk too, you know." He felt Riku regarded him with full attention, Sora smiled softly but he didn't look back at the other boy. "Sometimes I'm slow to understand something. Maybe I would know what you were trying to say." Then he addressed to Riku. "But that doesn't mean that we can't be friends, right? Even if you can't talk."

It appeared that Sora's words failed to satisfy Riku when Riku offered only silence.

'_Does he suffer a bi-polar mood swing or what? Everytime I was sure I'd said something right, it seemed wrong to him.' _Sora thought ruefully.

Decided that maybe silence was best, he got along with it. Both boys lazed around till night fell and rowed back to the main island.

"I got school tomorrow; you gotta stay home and behave, okay?" Sora noted. Meanwhile, he still didn't know what to do with the situation.

Riku nodded, his expression still void.

Sora wished he could read Riku's heart.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

X

In the Borough of the Radiant Garden, sat one girl on the low concrete bricks; to her side, stood a boy.

"So you think he'll forget you?" The redhead girl with cheerful violet eyes asked.

"I think. I wish he wouldn't though. Sora's the kind that goes buddy-buddy with everyone and Destiny Island has people come and go. It's been years that we haven't kept in contact. There's a likelihood that he'd forget about me," the silver-haired boy trailed off. "All the time we'd spent sparring on that island and the secret place, maybe Sora would even forget that."

"A secret place? Wow, he's really something special, isn't he?" the girl grinned widely.

"He is."

"Well, you can go visit him again, can't you?" The redhead suggested.

"My parents said they'd spent enough time there, they won't be going there again soon. I wish I could go myself, but I haven't saved enough to afford the ship's ticket." Riku crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

"Hmm, it would cost a lot more than kids like us could afford," the redhead trailed off as she settled her chin in her hands. "You know, if you don't mind, you could wait until I turn 15. Dad said I could try and drive Gummi Ship when I come of age. He's a closed friend of the owner of the ship. I'd probably ask if I could borrow one and we can go visit this Sora of yours."

"Really? You'll drive the ship, Kairi?" Riku turned at her, interested.

"Heh heh, sure." Kairi giggled at how a usual calm and collected friend of her could turn sparkle with excitement all of the sudden. "But that's years to come. So be patient, okay?"

"Thanks, Kairi."

"You're welcome."

X

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Man, I kinda lack of an idea on the story's middle part. I only have the introduction and ending in mind. At first, I planned to write 3 shots, but I think I gotta need something to link to the introduction to the ending. Would anyone want to suggest anything? If you guys have any interaction you wanna see with RikuxSora or something, lemme know!


	3. Ch 3 You can Talk?

Finally, I'm able to come up with a next chapter. Thanks to coconut90, And She Would Fall Xx, Sky91, TheHentaiHero, high off strawberry pock…, HorseRain, PhinMaginONLY, mochiusagi, carefreecat (beta-ing as well), Kendra1221, and Your Alien, for reviewing. Also, thanks to SuperFriendlySoraFan203, thewriterwannabe, and Valentined for the ideas, I'm gonna use all of them, this chapter I already used one, the next two chapies I'll use another two ideas. Thanks!

By the way, I'm making some RikuSora illustration to this fanfic. You can check it out here: http / bonbonpich. deviantart. com/ just delete the space. If it doesn't work, you can also go via my author page, there's a link there.

Just a reminder, one "X" still marks where the memories are.

**Chapter 3 You Can Talk?**

Riku tried to search for a most comfortable spot in his makeshift bed, but he couldn't find one. He shifted his gaze to Sora's bed, and to the owner who was occupying it, oceanic eyes burning with expectation. The brunet noticed the other boy with _that_ look; he narrowed his eyes in response.

"Don't even think about it. If I find you sleeping on my bed again, you're out of this house."

Frowning dejectedly, Riku watched as Sora reached for his clock to set the alarm. "Tomorrow I've gotta wake up before Roxas does, or else he'd come to wake me up and find you here," he explained and literally froze when a hand clasped his own, where he was struggling with the device that the alarm had been inactivated for a long time. He searched Riku's eyes and wondered what the heck it was this time.

Riku pulled on a smile and directed a finger to himself. He gave a dismissal wave at the device in Sora's hands and repeated the earlier gesture.

"Uh…did you mean you're gonna wake me up in the morning?" he guessed and was granted right because Riku bobbed his head down. Sora would have doubted if he could allow Riku to take such matter into hands, but the taller boy looked confident enough. "Okay, seems like I can't make this thing work anyway. Do you think you'd be able to wake me up before seven? Roxas always wakes me up after seven."

Riku gave a firm nod.

Before Sora went to sleep, he was well aware of the likelihood that he would freak out again when he woke up and saw Riku. After giving it a thought, he told himself that it had already been two days; whatever was in store for him in the next day couldn't catch him off guard anymore. With that, he plopped himself down on the bed, and dozed off.

_3rd Day_

'_Sora.'_

'_Hnn…'_

'_Sora.'_

Crossing the boundary from the world of sleep to the waking world, Sora's conscious was awakened before his body did. His mind registered something warm inflicted right across his cheek, and it was _wet _too.

His recollection told him that it must have been Riku. His mental laughed, _'I knew it! He won't listen! If I wake up and see him on my bed again, I'm gonna-"_

"Sora."

'_What? Is Roxas here?' _

Sora opened his eyes at the voice he couldn't recognize as Roxas's. He took in the sight of the other boy that was hovering above him in proximity, yet he told himself he would not yell, the situation wasn't something new. Sora promised himself not to yell. But when he learned what _that _warm sensation was, and at the same time, a word emitted from Riku's smiling lips.

"Sora."

At that moment, the only thing that dawned on Sora was that Riku had _literally_ licked his face awake. Another thing was that Riku was saying something, but had been forgotten at the moment, because a cat boy was licking his face…again.

He would not yell.

….

"_GAAHHHHHHHHHH!"_

A smirk pulled on Riku's lips as he watched Sora turned red all over, hands clasping his right cheek where Riku had ran his tongue over. On a closer inspection, Riku could make out that the smaller boy was shaking too, whether out of anger or embarrassment, or both, how Riku enjoyed that kind of reaction from Sora.

Anyways, he wanted to _tell_ his good news, so Riku shifted closer to where Sora was flattening himself against the bed's headboard. He placed his hands on the brunet's shoulder and opened his mouth to form a sounded word "Sora."

Sora's blue eyes went wide. "Riku…you…can talk?

Before Riku could answer, the door burst open, revealing a sleepy and moody Roxas. The blond drawled in a drowsy voice, "Sora, if it is some rat running in on you again and you have to yell that loud, I'll-"

Roxas stopped mid-sentence, which spelled a bad omen for Sora. The sleepiness left him immediately and he gaped at the sight of his younger brother on the end of the bed, ostensibly trapped by an older boy's taller form that inclined too close to be necessary towards his brother. Sora's hands were in a defensive stance; on the other hand, the unknown boy's hands seemed to work on the opposite intention.

The glances exchange of the boys lasted for a few seconds, followed by another uproar yell, louder than Sora's prior one.

"What the _hell_ are you doing with my brother!" Roxas shouted as he stomped in and yanked one of Riku's arms forcefully off of Sora's shoulder. But he failed; Riku latched himself onto Sora, the action just provoked Roxas's anger further. He grasped Riku's shirt collar with one hand, another one drew back into a tight fist.

Seeing what was coming; Riku tilted his head enough to avoid the blow, yet still be attached to Sora.

When the first blow didn't land successfully on the target, Roxas was readied for another one.

"Stop, Roxas!" Sora cut in as he, as well, tried to pry Riku off of himself. When Riku refused, Sora just realized then and there of just how much Riku resembled those little animals that'd grown attached to him and instinctively refused to let go when needed. But Riku being human in such situation, in front of Roxas, could be a little hectic to deal with.

Pausing at his brother's call, Roxas glanced over Sora and shifted to study Riku who regarded Roxas with the most confused look he'd ever seen.

"Don't give me that clueless look! You were about to rape my brother!" Roxas could tell the green-eyed boy was taken aback by the statement, but his fuming clouded his better judgment. Roxas would have came so close to punish his culprit had Sora not accomplished kicking Riku off of him and out of range of his brother's anger first.

While said culprit was out of the way for good, Sora hastened to throw in an explanation. "Riku's my friend; he was only trying to wake me up!"

"Oh, really?" Roxas had only been half-convinced. He eyed Riku who scrambled himself up with distrust. "Why didn't I see him last night?"

"Uh…" While Sora busily swarmed through his thoughts for an excuse, arms came snaking around his neck from behind, accompanied by a soft weight on his shoulder.

Sora took in Roxas's short progress of his expressions, shifting, from one of confusion to something akin to annoyance, making the brunet start to fidget under Riku's hold. Why was Riku doing this now…In front of his brother!

While Sora fought to detach the other boy, he noticed Riku gave a smirk to Roxas over his shoulder. It made Sora's stomach drop while he ventured a glance to his brother. The blond's earlier annoyance transformed into something akin to fury.

"A friend, _huh_?" it was a calm tone coming from Roxas, but thick with something that was about to explode.

For all Sora knew, Roxas thought Riku was going to…eh…rape him, now, Riku was making things worst. Sora tried to force the older boy's face away from his shoulder and only received a series of protesting whines in response. Sora huffed and tried a different tactic, "Let go or you're out of here!"

In an instant, Riku let go. Still it seemed like it wasn't enough to chase Roxas's subtle madness away. The blond narrowed his eyes at Sora while uttering one simple, commanding word, "Explain."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Very funny," mocked Roxas, "You expect me to believe that?"

"But he is! Well, he was that cat you saw Friday! Look!" Sora pointed to Riku. "You remember how he looked like when he was a cat, right? Rku looks exactly like that!"

On that ground, Roxas studied Riku once more and had to admit the resemblance. Moreover, when he thought about it, it didn't look like Sora had been lying, Sora sucked at lying. Still, the story had to be a far-fetched fairly tale, but he granted Sora (who was eagerly waiting for some response) with a hesitant nod.

"See?" Sora said with a grin and settled back down from where he'd been almost leaning over his brother. Then he eyed Riku who was sitting in a well-behaved manner at his side.

"Well, he doesn't talk much, does he?" Roxas commented, narrowing his eyes at the silver haired boy.

"Yeah, he doesn't-" before Sora could nod, he'd just recalled what had happened earlier that morning and jerked his head to Riku. "You talked!"

Turning to Sora, Riku smiled brightly. And as if to prove his point, he let the word roll out of his tongue. "Sora."

Sora was rendered speechless while Roxas seemed disinterested.

"But…but you never talked the two days before! Aren't you a cat? Man, who are you really?"

Only when the last question was asked did Roxas seem to gain interest, but Riku only went dead quiet as he regarded the twins with his studying gaze.

"Riku, say something," Sora requested, his eyes sparkled expectantly.

"Sora," worded Riku.

"He meant…_talk_, you dolt." Roxas crossed his arms over his chest.

"School."

The twin exchanged glances.

"Late," added Riku as he pointed towards the clock.

"Oh…right, we're so-" Roxas trailed off dismissingly as he followed the direction of what Riku had implied. "-LATE!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"He talked," Sora trailed off as his eyes wondered to the space in the classroom where he and Roxas waited for the homeroom to start.

Roxas's eyes slid half-closed as he glared at his brother, "Sora, you're acting like a parent whose son started talking for the first time."

Turning to his brother, Sora shifted his chin out of his supporting hands. "Isn't that amazing? He talks."

Shaking his head and burying it in his hands, Roxas eyebrows creased. Sora always had a knack for behaving like kid at times. "You weren't listening."

Drawing his eyes closed, Sora beamed so bright that Roxas swore he could go blind.

"Heh, and that was almost kind of you to let him stay in the house while we're away."

Wallowed up in personal thought at the moment, Roxas regarded Sora with an observant gaze, "Well, that's because-" But Roxas never finished what he was about to say.

"What?" Sora asked.

Upon Sora's clueless eyes, Roxas decided to brush off the issue. It just so happened that the instructor chose the moment to appear in the classroom door. Roxas answered, "Nothing."

The school day had been an impatient one for Sora. When it was over, he planned to dash right away home with Roxas. So he was surprised when his friend, Selphie, bounced across him in the hallway with elevated excitement.

"Sora! You didn't tell me that Riku is back!" the brunette chirped.

Sora exchanged one glance with Roxas and hurriedly asked, "He's here?" Then another matter dawned on him. "You know Riku?"

"Of course, I know Riku. What are you talking about, Sora?" Selphie laughed it off casually, but only because she missed the shocked look that passed through Sora's eyes. "He came looking for you." The girl grinned as she motioned Sora to follow her direction before he could ask anything.

Down the hallway, Selphie managed to drag Tidus and Wakka along, making Sora anticipate if too many people with him would affect Riku's mood.

When they reached the small park near the school gate, Riku was there. He waved at _all _of them. His action made Sora quirk an eyebrow, thinking, '_Weird. Riku seems to be open for these three. Then why would he try to brush off my neighbors the day before?'_

"It's really Riku! Man, how long has it been?" Tidus exclaimed as he tapped Riku's shoulder amiably, looking at Riku up and down.

"Four or five years or something," Wakka counted, "We were surprised when Selphie told us you were back!"

Upon all these, Sora's mouth dropped open. They knew each other, and given that they said four or five years, Sora must have been there with them already. Deciding that thinking alone couldn't answer his question, he asked the other three, "You guys, knew each other?"

"Of course, we know Riku!" Selphie said and commented, "You've been acting funny, Sora!"

"But…I've just known him for a few days. So how can you-" Sora now had a crooked smile on his face.

Selphie advanced closer to him and stared up at him. "You really don't remember Riku?"

Frowning, Sora shifted his gaze from Selphie to Riku who was looking back at him with a sad expression, and Sora swore the guilt could kill him. But he couldn't recall anything about this boy in front of him. His eyes traveled to his brother, silently asking for any clues.

Thankfully, Roxas provided him with some. After some thinking, it seemed like the older twin had remembered something too.

"Sora, do you remember before Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka showed up? There was one boy that you used to always play with," Roxas said as he ran a hand through his hair. "I've just remember this morning when we left the house, I didn't bring it up because you had asked me not to. But you should think of all the possibilities."

"The person I asked you stop bringing up?" Wallowing up in quiet thought for a while, Sora slowly trailed off, "You mean, my…" He shifted his eyes to Riku. "-best friend?" Then he witnessed as Riku's expression turned vivid. But still, Sora had to think again. "But that guy…he couldn't be Riku."

"You still don't remember him?" Roxas asked again.

"Of course, I remember him! I always do! Although I don't remember his face or his name anymore, but I do remember him," Sora vocalized. "But he can't be Riku. He was different!"

Sora called to mind about his first best friend. That cocky boy who always smirked with subtle arrogance; teasing Sora as if it was his favorite pastime. Yet he was always there. Whenever Sora ran into trouble or needed someone, that boy was always there with him. Until the day, he left Destiny Island. Sora missed him dearly but wished to not bring it up, somehow along the way, he had forgotten him.

"Different?" Roxas rolled his eyes. Sora told him a little about how Riku was meek, which Roxas mused that only blind people could have thought that Riku was anything close to meek.

"Yeah! That boy, my best friend was a cocky, arrogant moron who always…teased me! But Riku isn't like that." Sora finished. Then he felt something poke at his chest, it was Riku's finger. He looked up and said squarely.

"Forgot," Riku muttered, and then he pointed to himself.

The message was communicated in a way that even slow Sora got it…immediately.

While, Sora didn't know how to answer, Selphie brought up another obvious issue.

"Why is Riku talking word by word?"

Her question made Sora realize just how many other questions that one raised.

_If Riku was that boy, then where had the cat come from? _

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Riku, are you still mad at me?" Sora asked from his bed, eyeing down to where Riku was occupying the makeshift bed.

After they parted from their friends, Roxas had gone off to see his friend, Axel, leaving only Sora and Riku to walk home in total silence. Riku, ignoring him, was starting to get on his nerves.

"Riku, are you that boy that I used to play with?" When Sora anticipated that Riku would ignore him again, the silver-haired boy turned to regard him with the expression that Sora couldn't read. But Sora had a clear idea that he wouldn't get an easy answer. It wasn't long until Riku's expression closed off, then he flopped himself down to sleep.

Sora believed with that kind of reaction, Riku wouldn't be coming close to him again in the morning. The thought should have been a relief to Sora, but it was not.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

X

"Say, if Sora really forgot about you, what would you do?" Kairi resumed her conversation when she met her friend on another day.

Riku regarded her with observing eyes. He wished he didn't have to think about it, but he also couldn't help thinking about it. He closed his eyes and answered, "I'll make him remember."

"How?" Kairi smiled, getting all the more interested. She had known Riku for quite a number of years and never saw him care so much about if someone forgot about him. Her smile grew wider when her friend frowned, and looked lost.

"Well, there must be something that…should make him remember me," Riku sounded unsure and he didn't say anything after that.

"From what you've told me, it seems like you teased him a _lot_," Kairi hinted with a grin.

Glancing sideways at her, Riku narrowed his eyes at how mischievous Kairi could be. But he had to admit that many times she had come up with great ideas. He tilted his head to her and shot a smirk. "Kairi, is that the way you suggest me to do with Sora? Sometimes, you can be wicked. Who would believe that that coming from a princess?"

Issuing some giggles, the Hollow Bastian princess responded, "Having to behave like a princess all the time is terribly boooring. I have to have some fun, and I know I can find that with you around. By the way, teasing isn't that wicked, it's not really a biggie, right? Did Sora ever cry because you teased him?"

"Sora barely cried, ever." Riku said and paused, recalling numbers of time that Sora cried. The only time that his friend cried a lot was when Riku left Destiny Island. He wondered if Sora had cried that much, would the boy ever forget about him. "Well, he never cried because of me…eh…teasing him." A chuckle escaped his lips at the recollections. "But he could scorch red and die from high blood pressure sometimes from too much embarrassment."

"See? Who's wicked now?" Kairi shot back.

Then a series of laughter emitted from both of them.

When the sound died down, Riku finalized, "Teasing, that is."

X

It's still nothing much, let's see where I'll be going in the next chapter.


	4. Ch 4 I'll Make You Remember

There is an idea from one reviewer's suggestion (you know yourself^^) of Sora cooking and Riku…heh, read and find out! Yeah, one more idea will be located in the next chapter.

Thanks for all the reviews!

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 4 I'll make you remember**

4th Day

Sora woke up before Riku did. After minutes of twisting and turning uncomfortably, he found that going back to sleep was far from possible. He got himself up and sat on the edge of his bed, and spent a good minute glancing down at sleeping Riku. Bothersome thoughts started invading his mind.

'_Riku is angry with me. What if he never talks to me again?' _In consequence of that though, Sora felt like banging his head against the wall. _'What am I thinking! He did come back with me, didn't he? Why should I be worried at all! Grrr…' _Rolling his eyes away from the sight of the cat-boy, he decided getting up and occupying himself with something was the best option to rid himself of such negative thoughts. He left the room in a quiet pace.

Recalling that Riku had actually had an appetite each morning, Sora thought that a decent breakfast would do him good… and maybe, to make it up for Riku? The temptation to bang his head against the wall returned to him and he had to declare to himself. "I'm doing this just because I can, it is nothing special!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora wasn't much for a domestic work, but unlike his older twin, at least he could manage to cook something eatable without burning up a portion of the kitchen.

After Sora had three sets of hot cakes readied on the kitchen table, he did a little clean up of the mess he'd made. He didn't see drowsy Riku appear from the stairway and was advancing towards him. Most importantly, he hadn't been expecting any sort of stunts from the silver-haired boy after the previous day's ordeal.

He'd let his guard down…which was a fatal mistake.

Sora gasped as two hands circled around him and trapped him against the sink. Although puzzled, he knew who it was. His first incoming thought was to yell at the other but he didn't want to upset Riku more than he already had. Sora had been guilty enough with forgetting him already. So he turned, a little painstakingly in the cramped space until they faced each other.

"Riku, good morning," Sora blurted with a sheepish smile. When he received an unreadable expression from Riku, he dipped his head towards the table, "I made hot cakes, if you're hungry…"

Riku's eyes shifted for a moment before returning to Sora's face, he said, "I'm hungry."

"Good, then-" Sora was cut short when Riku licked his face. Sora stood frozen, but he attempted to remain calm. He believed he must have had some flour spilled on his cheek; every cat did that, no biggie. Then again, from Riku, once had been enough, so Sora wasn't expecting the second, and most certainly not what seemed to be like an ongoing…

"Gah!" Sora vocalized, shutting his eyes tight instinctively and fought blindly to push Riku off of him. With all his might, he managed to push Riku back a step.

Riku smirked, enjoying the sight of the flustered Sora. When he was about to lean in again, Sora shot one finger up blocking his face and Riku's.

With a glare, he huffed. "For the last time! Stop doing-" Riku leaned past Sora's small obstacle and licked him again, making Sora close his eyes in utter annoyance, and he finished in a heavy tone, "-that."

He couldn't understand Riku and for the life of him he didn't think he ever would. The silver-haired boy had been deliberately ignoring him the day before; why was he behaving like this now?

"Breakfast," Riku said.

"You're hungry?" Sora, meanwhile, even though he was still trapped in Riku's arms, felt a small spark of hope that he could find a way out of this. "Your breakfast's on the table-"

Shaking his head, Riku pointed at Sora. "You." He said again, "Breakfast." That was a more simpler term…which infuriated someone else than clueless Sora.

"Back off from him before I burn you on the stove," came a warning voice, laced with indignation from behind them.

Despite being tangled up together, both boys turned. Upon seeing Roxas who looked ready to act according to his words, Riku drew himself back.

Saved by the bell, Sora tried to look casual despite the earlier fluster. "Eh, morning, Roxas. I made breakfast."

Roxas nodded to Sora, shooting Riku a glare while pointing to the actual food on the table. "That _is _breakfast. Eat it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

After they were done, the twin headed out to school.

Roxas hoped, that at least, he and Sora could use some time at school to get away from the problematic cat-boy. But Riku showed up anyways.

"Can't you just give us some space?" Roxas grouched once he saw Riku's face in front of the classroom when lunchtime rolled around.

"Didn't come for you." Riku said, paused, and continued, "Came for Sora."

Sora, who trailed behind his brother, perked up at the sight of Riku, "You talked! More than one word!"

Smiling, Riku nodded. "Don't mind me coming?"

"Not at all! Man, you look a little more human when you talk in sentences, even if they are broken ones," the brunet remarked cheerfully. When Sora regarded his brother, facing away from Riku, he'd missed Riku sending Roxas a smirk. So he assumed that Roxas's growl had only been the product of his irritation with Riku appearing everywhere. He still was at a loss as to why the two seemed unable to get along. Well, Riku's overly teasing and Roxas's over protectiveness wasn't a very good equation.

It was funny to Sora, Roxas used to wish he didn't exist, but now…

"Man, he's stalking you! How come he knows that you were in this room?" Roxas accused.

"Followed Sora's smell," Riku explained, rendering the twins dumbstruck.

"See? He's been stalking you! What a pervert!" the older twin cried.

Rolling his eyes, Riku rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm hungry." A pause. "Something to eat?" Apparently, it seemed that he still couldn't exceed the limitations of six syllables.

"You better make sure that what he eats is food and not something else, namely you!" Roxas grumbled, unaware of the damage he'd caused to Sora whose face turned bright red.

Riku only smirked.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So tell us, Riku. Where were you? What have you been doing?" Selphie asked, interested.

They had rounded the cafeteria table. The twins and Riku on one side (Sora in the middle), their friends on the other. Attention from outside their circle was somewhat drawn, to Riku the most. Some people had come and gone, remembering him from years ago, which struck Sora as odd.

The brunet was well aware that Riku was known to this school to everyone but himself.

Riku, seemed eager to talk, but summoning a decent sentence seemed hard for him. So he mostly smiled, and tried to explain with simple phrases. "Gone back home." A short pause. "Accidentally turned." A long pause. "Spell needed annihilate." A very long pause. "Look for it." With that, Riku lapsed into silence, as if marking the end of his very confusing tale.

Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka stared at him wide eyed.

Tidus scratched the back of his head. "Is that your story, man?"

Riku nodded, his features seemed worn off.

"Eat, and drink, Riku. I think you need it to talk again, ya?" Wakka suggested, not even sure of that himself.

"I don't think I understand what he said. Would someone elaborate?" Selphie implored.

Then the three pairs of eyes fell on the twins.

"I believe they meant you, Sora." Roxas elbowed his brother.

"Er," Sora didn't know what to say, with his friends' expectations high that he ought to know more than they did. Fact was, Sora didn't even remember Riku like they did. "Well." He poked his food with his fork before stuffing it in his mouth, so it could be engaged in something than elaborating.

While Selphie's curiosity hung, her eyes flared in great interest when Riku moved towards Sora while the younger one seemed too busy thinking to notice. Riku inched close enough to peck the smeared food off of Sora's cheek.

A loud clank of fork clashed the plate sounded, following by the shuffling sound of Sora shoving himself away from one direction to another.

While the twins hadn't seen what Riku had done (Sora only felt it when it came), the other three witnessed the vision in wholly. That alone, was more than enough to leave Sora roll into one hell of a poor, little humiliated thing.

"A…a," Sora sputtered.

With trembling Sora, Roxas edged away on the chair, pulling Sora along and cast a death glare at Riku. "How many times do I have to remind you that Sora's not _your _food!"

Sora didn't know if Roxas was trying to help on his behalf or worsen his embarrassment. For one, Tidus and Wakka's jaws hung open, probably believing in Roxas, literally. Selphie, on the other hand, giggled.

"Riku thought Sora is a food?" Tidus was dumbstruck.

"He meant metaphorically, not literally." Selphie detailed and received a somewhat pleased look from Riku while Roxas shot her a glare.

"Selphie, do you know what that means?" Roxas asked, voice laced with warning.

The girl offered a sweet smile. "Oh yes, I do. For Riku, Sora is…"

"_Arhgg_!" the twins vocalized synchronously.

While Roxas did it to stop Selphie from saying it out loud, Sora had yelled only because all of it was becoming too embarrassing.

"Okay, that is it. This subject is closed!" Sora cried, lifting hands in the air in a frantic manner. "Tidus, Wakka, tell us about your latest Blitzball game."

"Good!" Roxas agreed as he pulled Sora away to switch seats with him, so he was in the way of his brother and Riku. He sneered back defiantly to Riku while the other rolled his eyes.

While the two Blitzball players started chatting about, Selphie continued to giggle like a maniac at the sight of Riku trying to shove his head back and forth to get a view of Sora while Roxas tried to obstruct him in every way possible. Given that Riku was good several inches taller than Roxas, the older twin had been the one dealing with all the difficulties.

Roxas growled.

Back at the time when Roxas got hit on by a college boy, Axel, Sora had been the one who took on the role of protector for Roxas from Axel who radiated an air of untrustworthy and craze around him. After they learned that the redhead had only been extremely playful, yet in fact, he was dead serious if it concerned Roxas. Only then had Sora resigned himself from the role.

Now that Riku showed up, Roxas knew he felt with Riku exactly the same way as how Sora did with Axel on their first encounters. Roxas didn't want to consider the possibility of the similar outcome, because at this point he didn't trust Riku.

It compelled Roxas to adapt the role of Sora's protector.

"Cute."

Riku's loud comment and Sora's choke broke into his thoughts. Roxas's brows furrowed at things he got to deal with.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora's chagrin had yet to be over. He found himself being teased, and embarrassed for the rest of the school day.

While someone remembered Riku, those who didn't, asked for his identity. Riku's answers were all the same to everyone." I'm Sora's pet."

Roxas did stick with Sora as best as he could. But every time he looked away, Riku had to pull out some stunt like cornering Sora against the nearest wall.

By the end of the school day Sora had become an emotional wreck. He and Roxas flung out of school, with Riku shadowing behind. When they were well out of range from the people that started calling Sora and Riku a frigging couple, the twins folded their arms and gave Riku the same sour look.

"All right! That ends here!" Sora started.

"You will no longer act for his sufferings!" Roxas added, and received odd glances from his twin and Riku for such an exaggeration. "We talked, and concluded that you gotta tell us where were you from so we can send you back!"

To Roxas, Riku gave a confused look; to Sora, Riku gave him such a wilted look that sent Sora down guilty lane.

Roxas stepped in front of Riku and glowered. "Don't throw Sora that plea."

As Sora's view was blocked by his brother, Riku's head cast downwards, his hair obscuring his face. Sora tried to take a peek behind his brother, and saw that Riku's overall features spells it all.

Riku was sad, truthfully sad.

Before Sora said anything, Riku's leveled his eyes to them, his expression guarded, but not without a trace of grim in it. "Sora doesn't remember…" The way he said it, his tone, his expression made Sora's insides twist. Sure, anger and embarrassment had eaten him away when Riku did nothing but tease him all day, in front of other people around the school. But that didn't want to see him like this…

Unable, to supply the reason to Riku's behavior, plus Roxas's conviction, he thought it'd be best to quit fooling around and start resolving unsettled things.

"Fine," Riku's word broke into Sora's speculation. Riku looked willing, and dejected…

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku led the twins to where Sora had first picked him up. He looked around, in search of something, leaving the twins wondering.

From the corner of Roxas's eyes, something flashed under the sun. The elder twin followed the glittering object. Picking it up, he studied the piece which was a tag name chain labeled 'Riku.' Its back carved, 'contact Kairi in case of lost…' smaller text of address was edged at the end of it read 'Radiant Garden.' Roxas turned to the other two, but found that Riku was already beside him, tugging the tag from Roxas's hand. "That yours?" Roxas asked, already knowing the answer.

Nodding, Riku held the chain close to his chest, his expression thoughtful. "She must be worried," he spoke by the time Sora caught up with them.

Sora was bewildered_. 'This was it, Riku had someone to return to…Kairi? Her?...a girl?_' Sora thought he'd be glad if he set things to where they rightfully belong, so he and his brother could go back to their lives without this cat-boy's fuss. But then…why did it felt so wrong?

"Radiant Garden, that's frigging far from here. Not many people could afford the transportations," Roxas addressed to Riku.

The brunet couldn't help finding the comfort in that fact. He absentmindedly tugged the hem of his shirt, eyes anxious. While Riku took in Sora's unexpected behavior, Roxas studied both of them.

"Sora, you can't be having a change of heart," Roxas pressed.

Sora looked lost. "I-"

"I'm leaving," Riku announced, his eyes staring off into the horizon. When Sora gave another absentmindedly tug at Riku's shirt, his eyes were back to Sora. "You don't want me."

There was an awful pang in Sora's chest. It felt familiar to him. "Riku, I…!"

"Sora?" Roxas's eyes thinned.

"Well, how can we afford the transportation to Radiant Garden anyway?" Sora brought up, his voice failed to sound hopeless.

Riku's eyes wondered off and caught something. His finger pointed past Sora, addressing to somewhere behind him. The twins veered at the direction. At the far end of the anonymous shop, plastered a small documented poster that seemed to be an announcement.

Roxas 'wowwed' as they came to a well distance to examine the content. "What an opportune moment…"

On the paper, was a picture of a cat with green eyes and silver fur. Above the picture, a big bold letter read 'Help: Lost Cat…' below was a contact which contained the address different from Riku's tag, it read Destiny Island.

Then the thought invaded Sora's mind. _'What an inopportune moment.'_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

They were at home, in their room. It was another miracle that Roxas grudgingly allowed Riku to sleep in Sora's room for one last time. It had been Sora's decision that the night was approaching, and their destination was on the outskirt of town; better make it the next day.

Sora was unaware of his persisting absentminded behavior. He kept regarding Riku and never realized for Riku never looked back and smirked at him like he usually did.

In retrospect, Sora felt the déjà vu about his friend leaving. He almost…couldn't take it…he didn't want to. The cat-boy had thrown him into a great deal of fuss. But Sora couldn't say that they were not friends.

Because they were…and maybe they had always been. Riku leaving was beating the crap out of Riku staying and bothering him.

"Riku, won't you tell me…?" Sora trailed off, his voice almost a plea. "Are you that friend of mine? My best friend…when we were younger."

Riku rolled his eyes. "You still don't remember." For the first time, Riku's tone took on the edgy sentiment, rather than communicating alone. Somehow, his tone provoked Sora.

"I can't remember, all right? That boy was my only best friend! When he left, we barely kept in contact! He never really gave me some confidence that he'd come back again! If not for the fact that I can't afford to travel from world to world, I wouldn't be goofing around here if I didn't want to see him again… to see him that bad! If I could go to his world in exchange of being responsible to save the world from the dark force, I would! I couldn't take the feelings, so I made myself forget about him!" after the revelation, Sora breathed and puffed, looking ready to burst. His hand gripping at his blanket, he looked away. "Damn it, though I haven't forgotten anything about him, along the way I had forgotten his face and name."

Riku was staring at him with the most astonished facial expression ever.

Heat rose up to his cheek in consequence of him pouring his heart out. He quickly amended, "Ah! What am I saying anyway! I was with that boy for years; he wasn't some kind of were-cat!"

"Really want to know?" Riku interrupted, his tone became profound.

Blinking, Sora nodded as he shoved his hands down the cushion, leaning over to where Riku was on the make-shift bed. "Of course!"

A flash past Riku's eyes. Riku leapt to his feet and impelled Sora against the bed.

"Wah!" The brunet yelped. Once regaining his senses, he demanded, "Not this again, you jerk! How does teasing me relate to this subject anyway!"

"Exactly," Riku said, bending closer.

"Exactly what!"

"I did that all day…" An expected pause. "You still don't remember."

Things fell into place.

"Is…is that all to it? What you've been throwing at me all day, being a pain in the ass, to make me remember?" Sora realized.

"You never remembered," Riku pronounced sharply. With a sigh, he backed off.

Sora didn't know what to say. He propped himself up upon the space offered, pondering.

Yes, in Sora's life, there was only one person that seemed unable to go about his day without pulling his leg. Could they be the same person all along? However, it wasn't accurate for him. Sora learned that there were different kinds of annoyance. While his childhood best friend was one type, talking him down and crushing his pride, this present Riku was another, embarrassing him by all the approaches and pinning him up against random objects.

The puzzles didn't fall exactly into place.

Sora's eyebrows began to knot, soon his face darkened with confounded thoughts. Shortly after, his neck was locked in Riku's arms.

Only by that simplest gesture, Sora's eyes shot wide at the sudden wave of memory. Aside from all the taunting, there was absolutely no one else in the world that did that to him. The feelings were right there, it was committed to Sora's memory.

"Oh boy, you're really him," Sora gasped.

Arching an eyebrow Riku retreated from suffocating Sora. It was dawn to him that that kind of act had been what he'd always done in his past with Sora. Doing only that, and Sora remembered, while he had wasted a whole day with a wasted endeavor. Sora never remembered him with his new type of affection. Wasn't classic the best?

"You remembered?"

"Ah! Stop saying like I'd forgotten! Face and name don't count. I remembered my best friend!" Sora declared, his countenance shone enough to hurt Riku's eyes. Sora proceeded to incline towards the older boy. He tentatively reached to tuck the silver strands. "I shouldn't have forgotten that there's only one person with this hair…and eyes."

'_Sora remembered.' _A heart warming sensation swept over Riku, mostly by the act of Sora approaching him. Without as much as a thought, he shoved Sora back on the cushion.

"Riku!" Sora warned.

"Sora," Riku murmured back.

"Now what the heck are you doing? I remembered you, so stop this!" the boy underneath threw his hands up against Riku's hovering form. His heart drummed against his chest when Riku kissed his cheek, and trailed down to his neck. Too often that Riku had pinned him down, but Riku had limited himself to the boundary of the chin. Riku's going lower, as of now, to his collar bone, smacked the red alarm in Sora's head. "Ri-!"

"Shh."

_And since when did Riku 'shh' him anyway!_

"Riku, this is not funny!"

"Who says funny?" Riku mumbled as he continued to nip alongside Sora's shoulder, hands already working on the collar of Sora's shirt.

"But…you're…gah! You're messing with me!" Sora wailed, feeling his limbs becoming jelly.

"Who says messing?" Riku talked into Sora's shoulder blade.

"Hah!"

Riku withdrawn back, only enough to held Sora's gaze. "I'm serious."

"Se…rious?"

Riku practically growled. If not for the fact that he was still bound to only a syllables to articulate, he would have narrated everything out for Sora. He was sure of his own feelings. It all began with his parting hug with Sora years ago. Before that, they'd always lived under the word of best friends. After the departure, an image of Sora, who barely cried, had cried when they waved goodbyes was fixed to his membrane. His reunion with Sora made it all the more lucid to him that he wanted to go beyond being best friends.

He wanted to test the boundary. If he did, would Sora allow him? That thought in mind, he leaned in to press Sora's lips with his own.

If in the morning Sora had froze with Riku licking him, now was the time he'd gone petrified. The little strength he had left to put up against Riku (which of course to no avail) left completely. His eyes widened, his voice rendered mute.

When Riku pulled back from that chaste kiss, Sora stared straight ahead, but focusing at nothing, while Riku observed every line on Sora's face. The lack of response became too much to Riku, he attempted to call to pull Sora back to earth. "Sora."

"Yeah?" there was a respond, but barely alive.

"How does it feel?" Riku ventured.

Only then had Sora's eyes flicked, life dawn back to them, and settled to Riku's.

"…"

"Sora."

"I…" Sora worded and drove Riku back. This time Riku let him. Given the space, Sora breathed and looked everywhere but at Riku. "I didn't know…I'd always thought we're best friends."

"You didn't know then," Riku echoed. "What about now?"

Sora's gaze returned to Riku. The gaze was held in brief moment before Sora turned away.

That night, Riku got no answer.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

X

"You gotta go at five? I'm all alone after that. Brrr, what a boring day," a fifteen year-old Riku trailed off as he strolled down the lane of the marketplace, alongside a fourteen year-old Kairi.

"Didn't Leon and his friends assign you to work on something?" The girl asked.

"Nah, they said I should take a day off."

"Probably. You've been working so hard for the Restoration Committee. But you're you anyway, you wouldn't survive a day without working on something. Why don't you sit and relax for a day?" Kairi suggested.

" I doubt I could do that," Riku grouched, his eyes then dimmed. "Maybe…I could do that if I'm sitting on that bent Paopu Tree on that island."

"Talking about Destiny Island again." Kairi pressed a finger at her cheek, eyes wondering to the sky. "You know, one more year to come, till I get the Gummi Ship."

"Yeah." A smile appeared on Riku's lips, only to disappear when Kairi glanced at her watch.

"Oh, I really gotta go!" She darted off the direction and waved back to the boy. "Maybe you should go to Merlin's house! Try Pooh's book or something!" then she was gone.

"Perhaps," Riku mumbled to himself, and veered to the borough direction. "Merlin's house, it is."

X

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bleh, that wasn't something much, just some fluffs over and over, eh? By Riku's riddles and his recollection with Kairi, I believe you could already tell what really had happened to him, ya? Anyways, next chappie would answer it all.


	5. Ch5 Truth about Catboy

There, this chapter I also used the idea given by reviewers, thank you!

Special Thanks to carefreecat for beta-read.

**Chapter 5 Truth about forgetting Riku**

5th day

"Arhg! Now I'm lost!"

Sora stood in the middle of nowhere, feeling completely misplaced. His eyes slid half-way down with barely restrained frustration from the predicament he was in.

He and Riku had meant to get to the other side of Destiny Island and find Riku's owner, Kairi. The island wasn't that big, but random high boulders and canyons were enough to confuse them. They ended up winding their way around them and they had strayed off the paths.

It seemed like Riku, hadn't even known the right direction to take.

'_And Roxas…grr…'_

Axel just happened to show up at their door early in the morning and he'd dragged his little blond boyfriend out to somewhere, most likely a date. Either way, Sora wasn't up for any commotion, so Roxas's missing presence around Riku was preferable. Before leaving Sora and Riku in each other's hands, Roxas had done his job in threatening the cat-boy, that if he laid one finger on Sora…

'_Duh…but Roxas is not here…'_ They were on the far outskirts of the island, desolated, so alone and by themselves that Riku didn't pass up the chance of doing something to Sora.

The evocative events were still fresh in his mind, causing heat to blaze Sora's cheeks. He had to cup his own face to make sure that they didn't catch fire, since he literally felt them burn.

Riku had kissed him…again.

Sora had no idea when it had happened. One moment, he'd tripped and had fallen over the rough plane, then Riku helped scoop him up. Sora had said something. And the next moment, Riku's lips were on his. Sure, it was a second time already but this time Riku had done it with a more…pressure, almost desperate.

He clapped his hands against his face, trying to recall the line that had caused such a reaction.

'_I don't want you to go…'_

He couldn't lay a finger on what had made him say that, it had been a spur of the moment thing.

Riku had talked; fully functioned like a normal human, and Sora had been starting to remember for real what his childhood best friend had been like. That much had led to his confession of how much Sora had thought of Riku. And on the tail of that effect, Sora had stupidly fled, into the wilderness of the island.

Here he was now, stranded in God knows where and alone more than ever. Without a good sense of direction, he could only pick his course blindly.

Where was he supposed to go? He felt the weight of impossibility as he thought of just trying to get back home, but he couldn't just leave Riku as well. God he was irritated at the cat boy.

'_It's Riku's fault! He shouldn't have done that to me.'_ With an afterthought, Sora knew that he couldn't blame Riku entirely. Harboring feelings for someone wasn't something that could be controlled._ 'But at least he could have controlled his behavior a little more,' _he debated with himself. He could barely deal with Riku when he believed those affections were meant to be a prank of some sort. Now that he knew Riku had been serious all along, it was inscribed all over Riku's posture and actions. What was he supposed to do about it?

Yes and no weren't right answers, and Sora didn't know what his last option was.

Then again, things hadn't stayed the same, life had taken a 180 turn for both of them. Sora didn't want to venture into reckoning of how long Riku had been developing that kind of feelings for him, things at hand were already overloaded.

Sora was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he missed seeing the fissure up ahead, and he continued walking towards it.

"Whoa~!"

Sora gasped, feeling his feet on nothing, the ground was gone. The sound of pebbles skittering off the boulders and into thin air. His eyes flicked down, seeing that indeed, his feet were in the air too. Below was a long way down into the dark.

He had not fallen; his eyes shifted upward a bit and found a pair of arms wrapped around his torso.

He found himself being drawn up and landed safely on the other boy. Sora drew in a sharp breathe, and turned.

Riku gazed back at him in concern, looking more relieved than ever. "You okay?"

"Er…yeah…" Sora responded, and made a quick dodge from those eyes. Then he noticed he was in the other boy's lap, Sora attempted to move off. That only made the arms around him tighten.

"Don't run, Sora. Please. I won't do anything," a husky voice whispered into Sora's ears, effectively stopping him from moving away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you off…okay?"

After the lapse of silence passed, Sora nodded. Only then did Riku slide his arms from around Sora. The younger boy turned fully around to stare at the cat boy.

Riku looked out of breath, he must have been running.

"How did you know I was here?" Sora whispered, breaking the awkwardness in the air.

"I followed your smell."

"Oh." The awkwardness returned. Another fact taken from what Sora had believed to be a joke. "…Um…thanks for saving me."

"No problem," Riku managed a small smile.

Riku stood up, and Sora followed.

"You don't have to come with me if you really don't want to. I'll get you back into town, all right?" Riku's voice was barely audible, suppressing.

"What?" Sora gawked at Riku as he stood up fully, this time Riku didn't dare look at him. "Then…what about you?"

"I…actually remember my own way back to Kairi's," Riku admitted, eyes showing something that could have been guilt. "I was only trying to delay our walk."

"Huh? Why?" Sora asked instantly, curious.

Annoyance filled Riku as he snapped, "You honestly didn't know why yet?"

In silence, the answer came. Was Riku trying to hold onto him as long as possible?

"Forget it…you always did anyways," Riku cut in, "Let's go." He began heading in the direction that Sora believed would lead back into his town.

'_That was it? Riku was going to escort me home and go his own way, and then we'll probably never see each other again?'_ "No," Sora articulated. Once Riku turned questioning eyes on him, Sora closed the distance between them and claimed Riku's hand. His eyes not wavering from Riku's unbearably hopeful look. "We'll go together, to your place, and let Kairi know that you're all right. But I don't want this to be our last day together."

"You…really meant that?" Riku asked with anticipation. Sora gave a vehement nod several times, the act brought a smile to Riku. As much as he was well aware that Sora might not have meant anything beyond the terms of friends being reunited, he was happy.

Shortly after their little moment, they reached another cultivated area of Destiny Island, which was located only a short distance from the heart of the town. It was an easy place to find if one knew the right rivulet to cross and right boulders to climb.

Sora kept swiveling his head around, observing the new surroundings. He'd never been to this other side of Destiny Island before. Too occupied, he wasn't aware that he was already ascended up the stairs to an open flat. His mind was back on track when he bumped into Riku's side, looking up; he realized he was in front of the door.

Another thing that he noticed was that Riku hadn't let go of his hand. Sora blushed; he had nothing against it earlier because it would keep them from separating in the maze of boulders and uneven plane on the outskirt. But it seemed that Riku hadn't had the same purpose as his in mind.

Riku didn't knock the door, and he looked unsure. So Sora took the liberty to do the job on Riku's behalf, and after he knocked he heard the cat boy grunt under his breath.

Shortly after, the door swung open, revealing a young girl with red hair. She was a few inches shorter than Sora, he assumed that she must have been around his age too. Her violet eyes caught Riku who was right in front of the door, frozen in time. She looked at him up and down, then her mouth parted, expression stunned.

"Kairi, right?" Sora picked a moment to call. Only then that his presence was acknowledged, the girl looked at him and nodded dazedly. "I'm Sora," he introduced and fished out the folded paper from his side pocket and presented it to the girl. "I believe you're looking for this cat. This may seems…crazy...but…" Sora pointed to Riku and said, "It's him." _'Oh, what a great way to break it to her!' _Sora chided himself mentally. Given that his mind was clogged with Riku and all, he hadn't been preparing for the explanation.

When sora elbowed Riku for support, Riku finally cracked a smile, "Hey Kai, I'm back."

They all lapsed into a short silence before it was shattered by Kairi's squeal of delight as she jumped up to wrap her arms around Riku's neck.

At that very moment, the sight stung Sora, for reasons that were beyond him.

"Riku! It's really you!" Kairi exclaimed. When Riku gave her a few assuring pats on her back, she swung back and held the older boy by his arms to get a better look at him. "You're back to yourself! Where have you been, what happened!" While the questions were being aired, her eyes swept over to Sora again. "So you're Sora. I wanted to meet you at least once."

The brunet pointed to himself, still swimming in the ocean of questions as to why Kairi had accepted the situation so well. "Me?"

"Yes, you." Kairi issued a series of laughs. Unable to contain her glee, she inclined to whisper only audible to Riku, "I think I know what happened, kissy thingy done, right?"

It was a very rare sight for Riku to fluster; Sora wondered what Kairi had said to him, but he was diving deeper into his doubts about their relationship. _'Are they…?'_ The presumption alone started to nag at him.

"Oh, come in, come in!" Kairi all but welcomed them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cookies and milk were served for Sora while Riku silently sipped away his tea. Kairi had been the one who seemed eager to talk when Sora brought up the expected questions. She ignored Riku's disagreement by stating that Sora had the right to know.

"Well," After settling herself down the sofa, facing two boys, Kairi started narrating, "It began when-"

X

Once in the Wizard Merlin's house, Riku made his way to where most subject of his interest located. On the small table closed to the wall, was Pooh's storybook. Riku occasionally lost himself in the world of that book. Today, however, the storybook wasn't alone. Next to it was the one he'd never seen before.

Taking interest, he studied the cover: _'Cast of Oblivion.' _He had been taught not to randomly touch Merlin's objects, but well, he'd been discredited by the name of a well-behaved boy too. He took the book in his hands. Leafing over the pages, Riku found that the book contained magic about granting wishes, for the price of memory."

"What good will it does if the price is memory…hmm, although it stated here that it'll be only a piece of insignificant memory," he mumbled to himself. Then a certain page caught his interest, it read, _'Walk the avenues of latent memory, and you shall meet someone dear to you.' _It sent Riku's mind reeling, he studied the page thoroughly.

He learned that, "In order to grant this wish, you'll lose some insignificant memory, nothing biggie. However, if something should go wrong, the person that you wish to meet would forget your identity, but not who you are. Should the magic fail, the participator will be turned into an animal, to what kind…is unpredictable." Frowning almost comically, he mumbled, "What the heck is the relation? Hnn, magic, never know what it'll do."

Riku thought this over. _'Do I need to do this? In coming year, I'll be able to see him with Kairi's help, but there's no one hundred percent guarantee. No, I already want to see him this much.' _Having an idea that no grave danger ever resided in Merlin's magic, at least not what he'd known of, Riku wanted to give it a shot.

"Hah, and the way to work this out, is to read this passage…in one moment, no pause, no re-read, recite exactly word by word loud and clear. How hard could it be?" Riku came to a decision, he paid no heed to how it was even possible when the person he wanted to see was in a different world. "I…want to meet Sora, now." Without as much as any hesitation, he began reading the passage.

His anticipation grew by every word he articulated. He was so confident in reading only that such a small trivial thing he failed to calculate was the chance of the dust in the room would fly to his nose.

"Ar-choo!" he sneezed between mid words, near the end of the passage. Riku stopped death in his tracks, eyes went wide. "Holy shit!"

No sooner than he cursed, his vision twisted and so were his insides. Pain shot through him but not more than he could handle. He didn't know what had happened. One moment he was shocked, and was cursing at his unfortunate mistake, the next, everything in the room was suddenly bigger than it was supposed to be.

X

Kairi had been the one who found him first, bundled up in his clothes. It took her a few moments to piece things together, then she called in Leon and their friends to tell them of the situation. Instead of helping Riku, they seemed to make things worse for him. Kairi and Yuffie wouldn't stop petting him, Aerith smiled fondly, Cid the old man wouldn't stop laughing his belly off, and even Leon was obviously holding back his chuckles. The wizard Merlin, meanwhile, was combing his long mustache with one hand in thoughtful manner, but he was far from resolution.

"Isn't he cute? Even turning into a cat, he still looks like Riku with this silver fur and green eyes."

Said cat, Riku growled, after fighting to compose himself for so long. His voice didn't come out as a threat as it normally did when he was angry. When the girls didn't quit, he fled from Kairi and Yuffie's teasing hands and darted behind the nearest table, earning more bubbles of giggles from them.

"Well, are there anyway we can solve this?" Kairi finally asked, for her friend's sake, after having had enough fun.

Riku, now as a cat, poked his head out of the corner.

Merlin's silence among the fuss equaled a very bad sign. "Hmm, I'm afraid there isn't an instant cure for this spell." Everyone in the room gaped at him. "That book contains only the magic that is irreversible. Riku is a bad boy for not following my advice."

Riku couldn't believe it. T-That was a grin he saw on Merlin's face? Was Merlin having fun with his ill-fate too? After all, he did create a lot of fuss for the wizard with his curiosities.

"But…rest assured, my friends. For every spell, there's a condition that could be met to reverse the magic," Merlin smiled, lifting up one finger.

Managing to pull Riku out of the corner, Kairi held the small cat by his upper body. Riku had given up, understanding that after the fun Kairi had, she'd get right down in business and help him. She regarded him with barely contained glee as she aired, "Don't tell me he gotta look for a true love first kiss." She laughed at her own joke, and Yuffie joined her. So much for Riku's trust in her.

"It is very similar to that."

Kairi almost dropped the cat, her face twisting into tension for the first time. "Is that for real? Riku never showed interest in anyone, how is that gonna be possible in the near future?"

"No worries. It's a simpler matter than that. It doesn't have to be his true love. You see, this book, namely the spell that Riku had participated…would grant his wish to meet someone he longed for should the passage is chanted correctly." Merlin lifted one finger and resumed, "That person…is the key,"

"You mean a kiss from that person?" Kairi assumed.

"Then…is this still about the kissy thingy at all?" Yuffie brought up.

"Oh well." Merlin answered, "It's about the kiss, of course!"

The room fell silent, following Riku's mewls, which everyone believed would have been his grumbles had he been human.

"Aww! I wonder who's the lucky one!" Yuffie chirped.

Riku's face fell, accepting the fact that his cure was far from him now.

Leon uncrossed his arms, "So…?"

"I think I know who this person who Riku wants to see is. I'll help him look for that person," Kairi announced as she winked at the cat.

"Well, we should break this to Riku's parents gently," Aerith said as she turned to Riku, apparently she was the one who volunteered for the job. "Don't worry; we'll take care of you."

"You better find that person of yours fast! Ain't want you to stay that way forever when your helping hands could be put to some use, kid!" Cid added.

When everyone nodded in agreement, Merlin broke in again. "Hold on a minute, my friends. There's a side effect to Riku's condition. From being human, but suddenly shrunk into a small cat, Riku is exposed to losing bits and pieces of his memory. After a year, there's a high chance that he'll forget almost everything about himself." Hearing gasps from several directions, particularly from the females, he assured, "However, his heart will remains as himself, and he'd still hold a sense that he's connected to us or people he cares about. After he regained his human form, everything will come back to him eventually."

The one person who was most worried in the room was unquestionably Riku himself.

"Oh, but!" Merlin started again, lighting Riku's hope. "One privilege here is that Riku will earn nine lives in his life as a cat!"

Well, that helped…a little.

X

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Kairi was finished telling the tale, Riku looked anywhere but at Sora. Sora seemed to love the story so far, but Riku looked somewhat…unhappy.

"Hold the phone!" Sora blurted as he directed to Riku, "Did you kiss me? Before yesterday and today?" Immediately, he turned red, he had been trying to avoid that.

Riku's eyes turned toward the ceiling. "Yes, I did."

"How come I didn't know that!"

"You were sleeping-"

"Wow," Kairi inserted, causing Sora's face to gain a darker shade of red.

"I was a cat, I needed to retrieve my human form, Sora," Riku reasoned before Sora yelled at him.

That helped calm flustered Sora down a bit, he sank back into his chair and got back on track, "I didn't know that such things happen out there. There's really such thing as magic," Sora thought things through, his expression bewildering.

"Lots of things are happening out there. Destiny Island is a small world," Riku commented without looking at Sora.

"But part of one that's much bigger," Sora responded, feeling the need to stand for his hometown.

"….Yeah," Riku agreed and was caught of guard when Sora inclined toward him and stared deep into his eyes. "What?"

"It's the side effect of you wronging the magic, that's why I forgot you!" Sora said.

"Wasn't that you tried to forget about me, and you, being ultra forgetful, accomplished in doing so?" Riku reminded with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"It's the side effect too! I wouldn't have forgotten my best friend that easily!" Sora debated.

"It doesn't matter. This is great. You guys are together again!" Kairi pointed out optimistically.

"You started to sound like Aerith…like a mother-oww!" Riku grumbled, fumbling with the assaulted spot on his head, the girl's handiwork.

Sora gawked at them.

Here, Kairi noticed the look on Sora's face. She assumed she knew what was going on. She grinned almost apologetically at him. "I'll borrow Riku for a while and return him to you in a jiffy, okay?"

Before both boys could say anything, Kairi already dragged Riku into another room.

Once they were alone, Kairi exclaimed "Riku! Congratulations!" She lifted her hands in the air. "So he liked you too!"

"What made you say that?" Riku disputed, dumbstruck. "Sora is afraid of me for feeling the way I do towards him."

"Oh?" Kairi stared with wide eyes at the boy and drawled, "Really? From the look of things, that didn't seem to be the case."

"What are you saying?" Riku looked at Kairi with eagerness.

'_Aww, you didn't know…how lovely-'_ The girl thought to herself. "You know what? Sora might think we're together. Go clear that up with him. " Giving no room for another word, she pushed him out of the room. She poked her head out a little and called to Sora, "Now he's all yours!"

It seemed like Kairi already liked Sora, well…who wouldn't?

Landing into the living room, Riku saw Sora still on the sofa, looking right back at him.

"Er-" Sora began, "-shouldn't you two be talking, instead of me? I mean, you came back for her…"

"Kairi is one of my closest friends in my hometown. She had a Gummi Ship's license, she helped get me here, so I could look for you," Riku clarified as he sauntered over to settle down beside Sora who curled up into a ball, rocking about.

"So…you guys aren't…?"

"No," Riku supplied. Kairi had been right, never underestimated the girl's intuition.

"Oh…" After a few minutes of deafening silence, Sora pondered aloud, "Well, so I've been thinking. You've been human before, then why couldn't you do things on your own when you retrieved your human form; you didn't understand what I was saying from time to time too."

"From a cat to human, I do need time to adjust my human self back…"

"Oh…right."

"Duh…"

"Huh?"

"Tell you what, Sora. I faked it."

"…What?"

Riku extended his hand over the sofa, behind Sora's back, getting comfortable with himself. "I remember you. I recalled how humans' stuff operated upon seeing you do it around your home, but I faked that I was learning. I understood every word you said since first day, but not all of them I wanted to follow."

Sora's posture took on a tensed posture, soon, he cried, "You lied to me!"

"I didn't lie entirely. Sure my cat side still lingered in me. It took a while to be fully conscious of who I was."

"Still! When you regained yourself, you still acted like you didn't!"

Riku's eyes focused directly on Sora, he stuck his tongue out with a smug smirk. "Well, I couldn't resist. It is not my fault that you're undeniably fun to tease, and your reactions were-"

"You _moron_!" Sora yelled, grabbing a pillow nearest to him and shoved it to Riku's face. Then he jumped on top of an older boy so forcefully that Riku slid down prone to the cushion. With the pillow now a makeshift weapon, Sora tried to suffocate Riku. Due to its poor quality, the fluffy thing shredded, sending countless of feathers flying about. They were tangled in a heap of mess in seconds, but Sora paid no heed. "I trusted you! Roxas was right! You were just messing with me!"

"Uh…"

It was Kairi's voice. She remained behind her half opened door, staring at them intensely, her expression amused. "A moment there, I was thinking of telling Riku that he shouldn't go so fast with you. Seems like he won't be needing my advice."

Realizing his position with Riku, Sora yelped, hopping off. "I wasn't!"

"Really?" the girl narrowed her eyes playfully. "Anyways, I've been meaning to ask Riku too." She addressed to him. "What are you going to do now? You're attached to Sora, but you still need to go back and let everyone know that you're back to yourself."

"Yeah…" Riku pushed himself up, running a hand through his hair. "I'll go back to Radiant Garden." He spared a sideways glance to Sora, reading his expression, and added in biting tone. "Sora doesn't want me here anyway."

"I didn't say-!" Sora blurted, but his line was left unfinished.

Riku's eyes thinned at the younger boy, "Make up your mind, Sora. I want to stick around with you. I teased you and stuff yet I meant it when I said I _want _you, but I don't know what you really think. Best friends, or more, or less, I don't think I care anymore."

"I…" Sora looked away.

Riku mirrored his action. "I still have to go anyway; I have to let my people know that I'm back."

"I see. Will you be coming back?" Sora asked.

"Probably."

"You said that last time too."

"Sora," Riku got up, walking slowly to Sora. "Why do you care?"

"I do care!" Sora raised his voice.

Riku reached out and pulled the smaller boy close. He let their foreheads touch and held Sora's eyes. "Really? I'm aware of your behavior, but you said it like you didn't. Well, or at least, not to the point that you still want me here."

With such proximity, Sora's eyes swept from Riku to Kairi, feeling somewhat embarrassed. But Kairi wasn't there anymore. "Er, Kairi's gone."

Riku's eyes checked the room. "Yeah, spending times with our ninja friend, Kairi has mastered the art of sneaking in and out." He settled his gaze back on Sora. "Back to us, Sora. What do you think of me?"

"I said I didn't want you to go, didn't I?" Sora managed.

That was all Riku needed. Kairi's intuition plus his interpretations of Sora's behavior, he did believe that Sora wanted him around, but the boy himself wasn't catching up on the fast track that Riku was going.

"Come with me then."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You done?" Kairi asked from behind the book she had been burying her nose in.

Behind the half opened door to Kairi's room was an apologetic Riku. "Really sorry about this, Kai. You've been the one helping me find him and-"

"Don't mention it," Kairi said. She closed her book and hopped off her sofa, beaming. "I had my fun too. And I'm sooo tired of dealing with your boredom when we can't be around you. Once Sora steps into the picture, I'll be free!" Kairi acclaimed, spreading her hands in the air.

Riku chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Kairi."

"You're welcome," Kairi returned, "So?"

"So…we all go together."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

See? Riku isn't passive in the first place!

This is the end of the story actually. But I'll be having one more epilogue regarding few things I'm missing here: one is about the kids that beaten up Riku, two is how Roxas allows Sora to go with Riku, and three, about Riku and Sora themselves.


End file.
